Congressman Eliot Engel (Westchester, Rockland, Bronx) is calling it a victory for co-op owners. Engel said he helped persuade the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to reverse itself on a plan to ban private transfer fees on real estate sales, a move that would have penalized co-op owners.

The transfer fee, also known as the "flip tax," is used by co-ops to fund capital improvements on buildings and hold down maintenance and common charges. Engel said had the FHFA gone through with its proposal, it would have denied the money to the co-ops, forcing increased charges for co-op owners.

The FHFA has proposed banning private transfer fees to eliminate an abuse of the system by unscrupulous developers and real estate investors who impose a transfer fee of 1% which must then be paid by a homeseller every time the house is resold over the next 99 years. As a result, someone with no ownership stake or interest in a property can continue to collect revenue from that property every time it is resold for generations to come.

Said Engel, "It is unfair that the vast majority of developers,investors and hard-working families who live in co-ops suffer due to the shady methods by some to 'game the system.' "

The Congressman said "As our housing market struggles to recover from the devastating effects of the past three years, we must not add to the problems and hinder both the resale prices and current living expenses."